It’s Time to Add Video to E911 Calls

If market penetration of smartphones is at 50 percent, why are we still relying on voice as the only relayed data in an E911 call? Because so many of us have the functionality, shouldn’t we be able to send texts, pictures, and more importantly, video? asks Andy Abramson, President of Comunicano and a blogger at VoIP Watch.

Think about how much more could be communicated if you could just show what’s happening. That could be relayed to the emergency personnel. For all the times where you can’t talk or it’s inappropriate to talk, why can’t you just text something to E911, Abramson wonders.

The technology is there. The major hurdle now is to get carriers to allow video over their network. They just have to change the way the whole E911 network works. But that, Abramson contends. It’s just data.